Follower or Challenger? How Chinese Non-governmental Organizations Manage Accountability Requirements from Funders.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sometimes disagree with their funders' accountability requirements; however, their dependence on the funders' resources makes it difficult to express their disagreement. This dilemma for NGOs may keep funders from substantively holding NGOs to account and cause mission drift for the NGOs. This paper analyzes an in-depth case study of an understudied scenario: how a newly founded NGO engages with multiple funders with varying competence in accountability practices. By analyzing a Chinese NGO's accountability relationships with its funders, we found that the NGO's responses varied according to its organizational interests and how it perceived the funders' competence. Better trust meant better compliance. Therefore, to secure compliance, it is important to enhance NGOs' trust in funders' competence. Based on the findings, we suggest that funders be more aware of NGOs' agency, be ready to engage in ongoing collaborative learning with NGOs and align NGOs' interests with the accountability requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]